The decision came after the non-profit society that runs the aquarium applied for a judicial review of amendments to a park bylaw passed last year that restricted the importation and keeping of cetaceans.

The aquarium has a licensing agreement with the board that allows it to operate in Stanley Park, and the facility announced it January that it would end the display of cetaceans because of controversy over keeping the animals in captivity.

Park board chairman Stuart Mackinnon says in a release that the court’s decision poses a real and substantial challenge to the legal power and authority of its elected board.

He says the board continues to support the care of the aquarium’s only remaining cetacean, a Pacific white-sided dolphin named Helen.